Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music

by Franz Nicolay

A close look at the lives of working musicians who aren’t the center of their stage.


Secret (and not-so-secret) weapons, side-of-the-stagers, rhythm and horn sections, backup singers, accompanists—these and other “band people” are the anonymous but irreplaceable character actors of popular music. Through interviews and incisive cultural critique, writer and musician Franz Nicolay provides a portrait of the musical middle class. Artists talk frankly about their careers and attitudes toward their craft, work environment, and group dynamics, and shed light on how support musicians make sense of the weird combination of friend group, gang, small business consortium, long-term creative collaboration, and chosen family that constitutes a band. Is it more important to be a good hang or a virtuoso player? Do bands work best as democracies or autocracies? How do musicians with children balance their personal and professional lives? How much money is too little? And how does it feel to play on hundreds of records, with none released under your name? In exploring these and other questions, Band People gives voice to those who collaborate to create and dissects what it means to be a laborer in the culture industry.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

289 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

Franz Nicolay's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Paris Review Daily, The Kenyon Review Online, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Ringer, Ploughshares, Threepenny Review, LitHub, Longreads, and elsewhere. He has taught at UC Berkeley and Columbia, and is currently a faculty member in music and written arts at Bard College.

His first book, "The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar," was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by The New York Times; his second, the novel "Someone Should Pay For Your Pain," was called "a knockout fiction debut" in Buzzfeed and named one of Rolling Stone's "Best Music Books of 2021" (“Finally, the great indie-rock novel"). Hua Hsu, in The New Yorker, said "Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music" “might be one of the least bacchanalian books ever published about the rock-and-roll life style, but also one of the most honest,” and it was named a Rolling Stone "Best Music Book of 2024."

Reviews

[Teresa Fales · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the lives of working musicians, Band People directs the reader's focus away from the person in front of the mic to see the back-up singers and instrumentalists who make pop music possible. From training and education, to family life, to conflicts and rivalries, this book showcases all aspects of any artist's life through the specific lens of music and musicians. I received an advance copy of this book through Publisher's Weekly Grab a Galley, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The book's practical focus helped me remember that in any artform the true artist is the one who shows up and does the work.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coincidentally started reading this after the latest 'going bad' phase of Jane's Addiction and following the death of Nebraska's beloved frontman, Charlie Burton. So lots of connections were swirling around in my head as I read. (In Charlie's case, many of the online tributes also praised his 'band people' over the decades.)

The intro alone is powerful and gave me, a mere fan, more insight into the complex world Nicolay highlights via interviews with acclaimed 'sidemen.' (There are also side women.) (Nicolay uses 'hired guns' and 'secret weapons' to describe these professional musicians and said at a reading he wanted a subtitle using those terms but the idea was, well, not used.)

Was happy to see Peter Case mentioned by DJ Bonebrake in a chapter about getting paid.

5 stars because I like Nicolay's writing and previous novel, 'Someone Should Pay for your Pain.' This one is well-researched and insightful.

[Steve]

This sounded like an interesting book, about what musicianship and the music industry feels like to the average working musician- not the frontman or “star.” But the book is a bit academic-feeling, not exactly friendly to the reader. There are tons of long quotes, which shows the author was doing a good job of talking to a lot of musicians, but they didn’t necessarily add a lot, and they interrupt the flow. I just read the (long) introduction and the first chapter before deciding to bail on the book.

[Scott Fuchs · Rating 1 out of 5]

A joyless, slog of a book on a subject that, seemingly, would offer some fun or entertaining anecdotes. None are to be found in this college thesis of a book. I don’t care to read of the drudgery of paying the bills and missing the kids while away from home on the road playing music to adoring fans. But if that is your jam, then this book delivers in spades.

[Chasen Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sober, pseudo-academic look into the lives of working musicians as they balance artistic ambitions with financial realities, bruised egos with employment opportunities, the indignities of writing, recording and touring with the sheer pleasure of it all.

The project’s many, many interviewees make up a loose collective dubbed “band people”: sidemen, studio musicians, hired guns, touring support, session players and others occupying crucial but often overlooked places in the creation of popular music. These artists bring a wide range of perspectives and anecdotes to the pages of Band People as Nicolay explores the realities of making a living in the music business of the past 40 years or so.

While there is a lot to like here, there is also a frustrating lack of overall analysis that leaves most chapters feeling like nothing more than loosely connected strings of quotations from various sources without greater purpose. At times, this technique called to mind the (more successful and affecting) opening chapter of Lincoln in the Bardo, in which a cast of characters all remember the moon and weather on the same night in radically different ways.

Yes, the variety of opinions on songwriting credit and dysfunctional band leaders can be enlightening and engaging, but without any unifying authorial guidance, the presentation ends up unintentionally kaleidoscopic and muddy. This is particularly disappointing as Nicolay is an ideal representative of the “band people” cohort and should be able to lend these disjointed sections a synthesizing point of view.

[Yurii · Rating 5 out of 5]

After sharing his touring memoir (The Humorless Ladies of Border Control) and writing a novel about a singer-songwriter (Someone Should Pay for Your Pain), Franz Nicolay takes an entirely different approach to the music scene in Band People. It’s not just a new angle—it’s the entire scene placed under a microscope.

What started as a "quick and easy" follow-up to The Humorless Ladies turned into years of research. Through conversations with countless musicians, Nicolay explores various topics from songwriting to personal and professional relationships, money, ego, and beyond. What’s fascinating is how musicians across bands—big or small, famous or obscure—face similar challenges.

Having played music in bands myself, I could relate to many of the problems shared in the book. I wish I’d known some of the solutions back when I was still in the scene. It’s impressive how Nicolay weaves together all these varied experiences under one cover, creating a kind of collective story about life in bands.

With all the technical and management tools people have access to today, being in a band and making music might not feel as monumental as it once did. I’m wondering if Band People is documenting the status quo of a music world on the brink of significant change.

I’m curious what will Nicolay tackle in his next book. Will he stay on the music path? Will he explore yet another genre?

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great. One of my chief complaints about music journalism has always been that it tends to focus almost entirely on the personal drama of artists’ lives and not on the substance of their craft. This book is a long overdue corrective.

Nicolay interviews a few dozen musicians, with chapters dedicated to: how do you approach playing your instrument? Where does songwriting end and arrangement begin? What are the different kinds of hierarchical structures that groups tend towards, and how do those different structures inform the way a band operates? How do you deal with royalties and the unequal splits between writers and performers?

As Nicolay admits in the introduction, the book is limited in its scope mostly to figures within the indie rock world; as a former member of The Hold Steady, he’s clearly working in the sandbox he has the most exposure to. As a result, the book can feel a bit narrow. I can accept that, but your mileage may vary. I hope the book does well, and that it encourages other music writers to spend a little more time looking under the hood in the future.

[Bruce Sturgell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been curious what life is like behind the scenes of music business. Band People: Life and Work in Popular Music shows you what life is like for regular working musicians trying to make a living doing the thing they love. This book isn't about rock stars - most of the people featured in this book aren't super well-known, and the vast majority of them don't front any of the bands they're in. It's an interesting look at the highs and lows of playing music professionally.

If you've ever wondered how the (musical) sausage is made, Band People goes deep on how people find, keep and lose jobs, how they get paid, life on the road, working in the studio and more.

Josh Freese is interviewed for the book, which is even more interesting to read after his experience in Foo Fighters, but there's a ton of people who run the spectrum. Highly recommend!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book - having read a ton of music journalism either about bands currently on tour, putting a record out, or dissecting a breakup, it’s really nice to hear from musicians who are not often interviewed and play roles that are under-appreciated reflecting on topics that are not often discussed. Admittedly, I would love to hear a book just about Thor Harris, Janet Weiss and/or Jon Wurster but the other musicians I am less familiar with have a lot of interesting insights, so I am glad the author cast a wider net. It’s an easy read and thoughtfully constructed. If this is a topic that interests you, highly recommend!

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever played in a band, you know: the dynamics can be challenging. Somebody's always more equal than somebody else - in terms of money or credit or attention (which can actually benefit the others, who aren't on the hook for interviews). As one interviewee in this book observes, it's like being married to a bunch of people all at once.

Band People deftly examines the roles people play and how things mesh well or don't. (The kindergarten advice to "play well with others" is entirely appropriate.)

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who plays in bands not as a songwriter, and at a small/local scale, hearing what professional musicians go through both personally and professionally was incredibly validating and enlightening. Really appreciated how Nicolay chose to frame and organize excerpts from his interviews, allowing the narrative to be led by the musicians themselves. Would highly recommend to any musician.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicolay’s study of working musicians in popular music is excellent, meticulously researched and thoroughly entertaining. It opens the curtains on a world that even the biggest of music fans pay little attention to, Studs Terkel with earplugs and a laminate. Highly recommended.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the wide range of interviews, but would have liked more of Franz's distinct voice as a veteran band person.

[Niko05 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid effort here.. well researched.. fun.. breezy.. and enlightening. More like 5 stars if you are or ever been in a serious band.

[Andrew N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Franz sure knows a lot of big words

[Scott Cordingley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but I think it would have worked better if it was presented in oral history format to make the pacing better. Certain sections were a bit of a slog to get through.

[Mari Beegle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a text book.

[Michael Rhoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts and interviews with bands I like (Wilco. Murder By Death, etc.), but a very dense read. More like a masters thesis than a narrative.